


Mission Migraine

by Kalira



Category: Naruto
Genre: Byakugan, Cuddling & Snuggling, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tea, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-03 07:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21175430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira
Summary: Neji returns from a week-long search and rescue mission that has left him with an agonising migraine from Byakugan overuse, and all he wants is to curl up in the silence until he feels less like death. Fortunately, though his partner disturbs those plans with his loud return, Lee is quite capable of offering both care and quiet.





	Mission Migraine

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Whumptober](https://whumptober2019.tumblr.com/post/187785964678/whumptober2019-october-approaches-and-so-does), Day 31: Embrace

Neji made it home mostly by muscle memory and his other senses, his eyes closed, though he wasn’t sure when he had closed them - he’d had them open when he checked in at the gates, he thought, at least. He didn’t try to think on it too hard, letting himself into the apartment and paused as the door shut quietly behind him.

His head felt like it was splitting, and his chakra pathways ached, and his eyes burned and throbbed behind his closed lids. Still, he stank of sweat and dirt, blood and rotting flesh. Some of it was more than likely only in his mind, but it made his skin crawl and his stomach knot all the same.

Neji went to the shower, opening his eyes only when he absolutely had to, washing away the filth with careful, restrained movements. Wishing he could clean the images from behind his eyes as easily as he scrubbed the dirt from his skin and hair.

Exhausted, aching, nearly blind from pain even when he risked opening his eyes, Neji pulled on a clean yukata, unable to care when it clung to his wet skin, and dragged out the futon. As soon as it was mostly unrolled, he crawled into it and sank down, burying his face in the fabric and swallowing a whimper as he spread one hand over his temple and pushed it into his wet, tangled hair.

He tried to focus on breathing, quiet and still, the flow of his chakra through his body, the familiar futon beneath him and room around him. He shook and fought not to sob, carefully controlling every breath.

Time passed over him in slow waves of tight, pulsing pain that washed between his temples, occasionally lancing towards his spine or throbbing more heavily in his eyes. Neji couldn’t regret fulfilling his mission - without his eyes there were several dozen people, mostly civilians, who might not have been found in time to save them.

. . .he couldn’t regret it, but he could wish it had placed less of a demand on him.

Neji hadn’t heard the door open, or any other sound, but suddenly-

“Tadaima!”

Neji couldn’t breathe for a moment, and he curled up tighter with a little jerk that made him gasp.

“Neji! Beloved, you are home!” Lee called out happily, his voice echoing through their small apartment and sending new spikes of pain through Neji’s head. “Neji!” Lee called again, and Neji whimpered, but he couldn’t bring himself to raise his own voice, even to try and quiet- “Neji?”

Neji felt the air shift as the bedroom door opened and flinched. “Quiet . . . _please_.” he gasped, and heard Lee choke a bit on a half-stifled syllable.

“Oh, beloved.” Lee’s voice was barely a breath this time, and Neji whimpered again, this time with relief. “You are hurting. I am sorry.” he said softly, sincere, as he came closer. He rested a hand on Neji’s back. “Is it. . .” He brushed a gentle caress across Neji’s temple, and he caught his breath in a rough hitch and nodded shallowly.

Lee rubbed a hand over his arm as the waves of pain from the small movement faded out slowly, and settled to sit close against his back. “Is there anything I can do, beloved?” he asked.

Neji’s eyes teared up again, partly from the unending throb of his migraine and partly from gratitude and affection for his partner.

“I know you returned from your mission today. . .” Lee’s fingers ghosted over Neji’s brow in a barely-there caress. “Have you eaten anything?”

“Not . . . since yesterday.” Neji got out, squeezing his eyes a little more tightly closed. It hurt more, though dully, and he relaxed as much as he could.

“That is not good.” Lee said, resting a warm hand on the nape of his neck, making Neji realise just how tense he _was_ there. “Could you take some tea, at least?”

Neji opened his mouth to decline, then. . . “Maybe. Not sure.”

“I will make some.” Lee promised, and kissed his temple. “I will be back.”

Lee left silently, closing the door behind himself, and Neji could barely hear him as he moved around their apartment. He felt a wave of relief and fondness, turning his face slowly further into his pillow. He drifted again, trying to separate himself from the throbbing pain in his head and eyes.

A light touch at his back brought him back, and Neji cracked his eyes open as he moved slowly to look around at his partner. Lee smiled and held up a mug to show Neji, then put it down and helped him up, settling him in a comfortable lean against Lee’s solid chest.

Neji sighed and nudged appreciatively closer, but drew the line at letting Lee hold the mug of tea for him, taking it from his partner’s hands. Lee hummed softly and hugged him around the waist instead. Neji sipped it, then paused, licking his lips.

“It is the muscle relaxing tea.” Lee confirmed. “I thought it might help. Even a little.” Neji sighed and just barely stopped himself from nodding agreement.

It wouldn’t make the migraine go away, but nothing _would_ other than time and rest, not from the strain of overusing his Byakugan. The tension in the rest of his body that was making him ache, however. . .

Neji drank his tea, leaning into his partner’s arms, and slowly sagged lower. He still hurt horribly, but some of the aches were fading a little, and he’d forgotten that the muscle relaxer did this to him. He could barely keep his thoughts together, and he had lost track of the mug he’d been holding. He wasn’t sure he had finished drinking his tea before it disappeared, either.

“Rest, beloved.” Lee said softly, lips brushing his ear, and rubbed one hand lightly over his chest.

Neji stopped fighting the dizzying swirl, and wasn’t entirely sure when it slipped into true sleep, the migraine a sharp undertone but a little less overwhelming now.


End file.
